Taxpayer education

Learn to file your own return

Our taxpayer education service is for people who want to understand their taxes and learn to file their own returns. We’ll go over your prior-year return together — what the numbers mean, how the pieces fit, and what you’ll need to prepare your own return in the future.

My goal is to help you build the knowledge and confidence to handle your taxes yourself when your situation allows.

Praise God, I’ve passed all three parts of the Enrolled Agent exam!

I’m now an EA applicant, awaiting approval of my enrollment application. I am not an Enrolled Agent yet, and I will say so here the day that changes.

$80a session · about an hour · one prior-year return

One price for an individual or a married couple — a married couple files one return, so learning it is one conversation, not two.

What the hour covers

  • Your prior-year return, read line by line — what each figure is, and where it came from
  • How the pieces fit: income, adjustments, deductions, credits, and what actually drives the tax
  • Which of your documents matter, and which ones you can stop worrying about
  • What changes next year, and what to watch for in your own situation
  • What you will need in hand to prepare the return yourself

Who it is for

  • People who want to understand their taxes rather than hand them over
  • Anyone whose situation is steady enough to file for themselves once they know how
  • Couples — a married couple files one return, so it is one session at one price

If your situation is genuinely complicated, or you would simply rather not do it yourself, say so and I will tell you plainly — we prepare returns too, and sometimes that is the right answer.

This service is meant to put itself out of a job

If it works, you will not need it twice. Filing your own Form 1040 here costs $5 federal and $5 per state, against $160 to have us prepare it. An hour spent learning your own return is the cheapest of the three within a year, and that is the outcome it is for.

Booking

Use the form, or reach me directly — both land with the same person, and that person is me.

Have the return you want to go through to hand for the session. You do not need to send it to me beforehand, and I would rather you did not — we will read it together.

File your own Form 1040 →

Book a session

$80, about an hour, one prior-year return. I reply to agree a time — nothing is charged here.

No Social Security number, no documents, no figures. Bring the return to the session, not to this form.

God willing, Gideon will provide affordable, honest service and help more taxpayers become confident, informed filers.